Vince McMahon came out and told us all he’d be giving away the money tonight. Yay.

Mr. Kennedy v. Paul Burchill

The two went at it right off the bat and after some nice leg sweeps and head locks, Burchill absolutely turned Kennedy inside out with a back suplex for a two count. Burchill snap mared Kennedy for another two count before gathering the feisty face and slapping on the rear chin lock of doom or something.

The crowd rallied behind Kennedy who fought to his feet, but was quickly flat backed by a pair of Burchill lariats. Kennedy ducked under a round house left and hit a spinning wheel kick and a face wash on the ropes. After a two count, Kennedy went to work on the big Brit who quickly hit him in the fun bag. Kennedy shot back with a mic check attempt but Burchill fought him off. He went for a sling shot clothesline but Kennedy ducked under and quickly countered with a mic check and that’s all she wrote.

Winner: Mr. Kennedy via pin fall

After the match, Katie Lea confronted Kennedy and slapped him. Kennedy looked at her like he was going to deck her, but her Brother came swooping to her defense and nailed a twisted sister on Kennedy. The two glared at Kennedy on the mat, laughing at him as they walked off.

Vince McMahon called up the first winner of $200,000, Daniel with the terrible cell phone ringer..

****Commercial****

Mickie James v. Beth Phoenix

Mickie hit a go behind, but was quickly battered off by Phoenix. Mickie hit a spinning kick only to absolutely eat a tilt a whirl slam to the mat for a one count.

Beth kept up the beat down, stomping away on the champion before hitting the Tully Blanchard-esque sling shot suplex. Mickie fought back with some gut shots before getting planted on a back breaker. James kept on coming at Phoenix, trying to get something going.

The two slugged it out in the middle of the ring before Mickie hit some kicks and a nasty looking low drop kick for a two count. Mickie scaled the ropes and hit her thesz press and rolled Beth up for a three count.

Winner: Mickie James via pin fall

Beth immediately decked Mickie after the match only for Melina to come down and drive Phoenix face first into the mat.

Vince is on the ramp and it’s time to call someone and get some monaaaay. Some rube answered his phone and his name isn’t Hunter Golden.

****Commercial****

John Cena and WWE Champion Triple H are face to face in the locker room. Triple H said it isn’t personal. All it is, is about being the best. Cena made him remember Wrestlemania 22. Triple H said that was then and this was now. Intensity and nose bumping. Cena walks off and lots of fun.

Oh good lord, Charlie Haas is giving money away. First call and the idiot’s busy. That’s life passing you by. Something about Haas kissing chicks and then the first live raping from Mae Young in WWE history.

Triple H briefly distracted Cena long enough for JBL to jump him and begin doing a demo-job on the former champion. JBL laid in some brutal rights before Cena came bounding of the corner and hit a bulldog.

The fun didn’t last long though as the tough Texan quickly got back in the thick of things, clubbering his way to an advantage. He almost got caught in an FU, but he squiggled out and rolled out to the ringside area where he became engaged in staring fun with the Champion. That’s what we gets as we head to…..

****Commercial****

We came back to an absolute fight as JBL was pounding Cena off the announce table, then in the face, then in the face some more and then a big boot. JBL slapped on a wrestling hold (a cravat of all holds) on Cena who started rabbit punching Cena in the dome and then really punching him only to come hurdling off the ropes into a sleeper hold.

Cena started to fight out of the hold and just laid it in with some surprisingly AWESOME looking rights until JBL KILLED him with a big boot. JBL went for the big lariat, but whiffed badly and Cena laid in a shoulder block and an inverted power bomb.

Cena amped up the crowd and dropped the fist and it’s FU time. JBL raked the eyes and then just clothes lined Cena’s head into the upper deck with a clothesline, but Cena fought his leg to the bottom rope to get out of the pin fall attempt.

JBL got pissed and started to dismantle the ringside table. He went into the ring but quickly got cradled and Cena got the pin fall. Lots of bombs, but it’s a simple cradle that does it.

Winner: John Cena via pin fall

Triple H and Cena stared down on the announce table. Triple H calmly left, but not before tripping Cena up on the table and waltzing to the back.

****Commercial****

So we’re giving away $98k because that’s the total of Lilian’s measurements. Some chick wins and all is good in her world.

The Highlight Reel

Chris Jericho introduced us to his guest tonight, Shawn Michaels.

Jericho put over how proud he was of HBK after his match against Batista at One Night Stand. HBK said he appreciated the kind words but wanted to know what the question was. Jericho said he’d get to it.

HBK said he’d do what it took to win, and so yeah, he might have lied to Jericho, but that was that. Jericho said he’d accept it, and when he got super kicked he got maybe what was coming to him. He said what might have gotten him a bit was him getting boo’d. Whenever he tried to do the right thing, he’d get booed.

Jericho called HBK a pathetic worm of a human being and before you know it, the two are brawling all over the ring. Jericho planted a kick to the nards of HBK before shoving him to the mat like a piece of garbage. Jericho said that’s what liars get. Jericho said the worst was yet to come before he SMASHED HIS FACE THROUGH THE TV!

****Commercial****

Umaga & Snitsky v. Hardcore Holly & Cody Rhodes

Snitsky and Rhodes locked horns and after some tussling and arm bar posturing, Holly tagged in and the two hit a double suplex. Snitsky gained the upper hand with some punches before Umaga tagged in. Holly kicked him in the face, but Umaga just took it and clothes lined him to the mat for a two count.

Snitsky’s back in now and scoop slams Holly before dropping an elbow or seventeen on Holly before fanning on a leg drop attempt. Holly hit a drop kick to Snitsky’s knees and he crawled to the corner to tag Rhodes.

Rhodes came in on the hot tag and began chopping away at Umaga. Umaga eventually caught him with a side walk slam and geared up for the spike and nailed Rhodes for the pin fall.

Winners: Snitsky and Umaga via pin fall

Ted Dibiase Jr. showed up and cut a promo about Night of Champions. He said maybe these two aren’t on the same page because if they didn’t get their act together, their time as champions would be up. He said in a few weeks, there’d be new champions. That moment, he said, would be just like him: priceless.

****Commercial****

Trevor Murdoch’s going to sing and give us money. Holy crap, Jillian is there and we have a singing BATTLE~! Jillian says they’re here to listen to her sing. I agree. I am here to hear this heaping helping of awesome. McMahon’s calling. This lady only won $2. Sucks for her. The next idiot gets $200,000. Wow.

****Commercial****

Santino Marella & Carlito v. Cryme Tyme

We got some replays of Santino’s loss to Cousin Sal on Smackdown this past Friday night.

JTG and Marella exchanged roll up attempts before JTG planted Marella on his face and tagged in Big Shaad. Shaad hit a big boot and then Alabama slammed JTG into Marella for a two count.

Marella avoided JTG’s flying axe handle and tagged in Carlito who stomped away on JTG in the corner relentlessly. Santino tagged back in quickly and began laying in clubbing blows across JTG’s back before sitting in with a deep camel clutch. Marella missed a move and JTG got to the corner to tag Shaad.

Shaad unloaded with a few clotheslines and a power slam for a one count, but Carlito broke up the fun. JTG dispatched of Carlito and Shaad hit some side slam variation for a win.

Winners: Cryme Tyme via pin fall

Cryme Tyme went right for the money but Vince held them back and told them they’d help him give away $51k right now. They give it away and it’s about money and ‘yeah’ or something.

Jeff Hardy’s on his way to the ring for his big match tonight.

****Commercial****

Triple H v. Jeff Hardy

Triple H grabbed a headlock to start us off before Hardy pushed him off only to eat a shoulder block. Triple H stared down Cena long enough for Jeff Hardy to capitalize and hit a swinging neck breaker. Hardy hammered away at the champion in the corner before hitting a take down for a two count.

Hardy hit his mule kick and the catapult drop kick in the corner for another near fall. Hardy looked for a twist of fate prematurely and paid for it with a big Triple H spine buster.

The Game struggled to his feet before gathering Hardy and reigning right hands down on the head of Jeff Hardy. Hardy got sent into the rope and got bashed with a Triple H high knee for a quick two count before Triple H dropped a pair of knee drops down across Hardy’s face.

Triple H slapped on the abdominal stretch. After a struggle, the hold was broken and Triple H kept up the pace, sending Hardy into the corner with a hard Irish whip. After going for a cover, the champion whipped Hardy to the corner but was met with a Hardy high kick. Hardy came flailing back with right hands before eating a face buster for yet another near fall.

Triple H connected with a big right hand before bringing Hardy back to his feet to only send him careening back down to the mat with another. Hardy fought back again though and backed the game up and was able to squeak out a whisper in the wind attempt that Triple H barely side stepped.

Hardy struggled to hold himself up on the ropes as Triple H came bounding at him with a big clothesline that sent Jeff clattering to the floor. Triple H followed him to the outside and smashed Hardy’s face off the guardrail. The match would take a turn for the worse for the champion however, as Hardy managed to reverse an irish whip and Triple H was sent smashing into the barricade.

Hardy charged Triple H and the Game countered with a hip toss that sent Hardy smashing into John Cena, who was sitting in the commentary area. Hardy made his way back into the ring and while Triple H attempted to climb back in the ring, Cena returned the favor from earlier in the night and tripped up Triple H while the official’s back was returned.

The official counted to 10 and Hardy’s got himself a big win.

Winner: Jeff Hardy via count out

Cena and Triple H faced off on the outside, but not to have his big night turned upside down, Jeff Hardy came soaring off the top rope and took both out to celebrate in the middle of the ring.

McMahon’s got a little more money to give away when we get back.

****Commercial****

McMahon gave away $250,000 and next week, he’ll give away more. Yup. That’s the last segment.

RAW THOUGHTS

Show Thoughts-- Well just a strong all-around episode this week. Sure the give away segments hurt the flow of it, but the show delivered overall. More or less, this year’s review is more of a laundry list than anything.

The Kennedy-Burchill thing isn’t over yet, and I think that’s a good thing. Burchill is getting a lot of heat here large in part due to the fact that Kennedy’s really a way better baby face than he is a heel, but also to the fact that he’s been presented well. This is good for both guys right now and no reason to pull the plug quite yet.

The Divas went from hard to watch to a highlight of the show it seems almost overnight. Mickie James is who she is, Beth is a great monster heel and Melina is a unique act unto her own that while she might not be the athlete Mickie or Beth are, she’s just as good, if not a superior character.

JBL-John Cena was a really fun brawl. No, it’s not MOTY stuff or even really nomination-worthy, but it’s a fun match that deserves credit. There were a couple of miscues, perhaps most notably JBL’s cravat in the middle of a pier-six brawl, but other than that, both looked great and even John Cena’s punches, which despite being timed well, look notoriously weak, looked like pumpkin splitters tonight. Good stuff from both.

And I’d really be out of line to move this far into the review without mentioning the sensational Jericho heel turn. It seems with Randy Orton out, there’s a big void in the top heel spot on Raw. JBL is either a guy WWE isn’t willing to hedge bets on at the top or more likely, not really sitting there thrilled over the idea of possibly main eventing again. Let’s not forget that Bradshaw had perhaps the most painful title reign in history so going through that again at age 40-something can’t be too high on the priority list for him.

Umaga’s being moved to Smackdown and Kennedy’s a face now, so that kind of spreads it thin a bit. So Jericho’s a good bet. He’s been more consistent than anyone week in and week out and has carried the load as the top heel before. Maybe a return now will produce better results. The build to the turn tonight was pretty sensational, so let’s hope the goods keep up.

There’s nothing right now that’s going to get me into the tag team scene in the WWE. They seem caught somewhere between having those traditional themed tag teams of yesteryear and doing the NOAH big superstars or well-paired mid carders thing. With the Diva division in a visible upswing, it might be the time for the WWE to turn to it’s tag ranks and see what they can do with it.

Hardy-Triple H was a lot of fun and I’d expect to see Hardy headlining the ‘Bash in some way, shape, or form whether it be a triple threat match or one on one against Cena or Triple H.

As for the main event build, I’m flat out expecting a sensational match from Cena and Triple H at Night of Champions. Both are seasoned and I think now that they’ve got some history to build on, it makes it all the better. This is as much of a blow off of the first half of the year’s storylines as it is anything. These two have been on a collision course for six months now so it’s no surprise we’re getting this now. The WWE seems to be into playing the game of putting on a big money, big draw match in the summer, which has been nice. It’ll be interesting to see where they head for Summerslam.

Overall, again, a really well rounded show with a little something for everyone.

WWE Champion: Triple H 12-8, 28pts.(Last Week: WWE Champion) -- Superb job in the commentary booth tonight. About time someone tried the hard sell on Cena and it sets up a pretty epic-ish match at a pay per view that’s probably not all that epic.

Intercontinental Champion: Chris Jericho 10-10-1, 21pts. (Last Week: IC Champion)-- It’s safe to say this might be the best built heel turn in a long time here. I predicted big things for Chris Jericho this year and as a heel, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him be the guy that gets the title shot at Summerslam. The timing is too much of a co-incidence. With Orton out, the door is WIDE open.

1. John Cena 12-7, 21 points. (Last Week: 1) -- Cena really looked good tonight. His strikes are notoriously average despite how well they’re timed, but tonight they looked targeted and mean. His selling was excellent and overall, it was a very Cena-ish performance, something we haven’t seen a whole heck of a lot of lately.

3. Ken Kennedy 10-6, 22pts. (Last Week: 4)-- It’s nice they didn’t totally put the squash on the Burchill stuff this week. He seems to have found a groove as a good guy, so sticking with it is advisable, even if there is more or less a glass ceiling for him on the Raw roster. Personally, I see him as a strong draft candidate.

4. Jeff Hardy 9-7-1, 18pts. (Last Week: 6)-- Like JBL, he seems to be the odd man out for right now, but I wouldn’t plan on that being the case for much longer. He’s just too over to not have in a big program and I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see him possibly headline the Great American Bash with John Cena, Triple H or both.

5. Randy Orton 10-9-2, 20pts. (Last Week: 3) -- INJURED

6. JBL 9-13, 16 points (Last Week: 5)-- Seems to be the odd man left out and honestly, I’d really like to see him get some sort of a push of sorts. With Jericho’s heel run seemingly now in full swing, JBL seems to have been put on the back burner. I would say it might be a possibility he gets drafted again.

7. Umaga 7-10, 12 points (Last Week: 5) -- OK week from the Bulldozer. Nothing spectacular, but solid stuff I guess. Really just in time killing mode before heading off to Smackdown.

8. Santino Marella 5-5, 5 points (Last Week: 8) -- Fun stooge, but man is this guy a horrible pro wrestler in the ring. IMO, he could use a move in the draft, but it’s hard to imagine anyone /* who’d fill his role as lower mid card time killer on Raw.

10. Hardcore Holly 5-6, 5pts. (Last Week: 10)-- I dunno what it is, but there’s just nothing that interests me in Holly and Rhodes as a tag team. I’m really hoping we get some sort of Cody heel turn at Night of Champions.